My Digital Footprint

How Large is it?

    My Digital footprint, I believe is quite large. I use many different forms of social media and I'm always on the internet for work and recreational reasons. Some of the apps and sites I use are:

YouTube: 

I have my own YouTube channel, where I post gaming content and other forms of comedy. I'm constantly recording and editing to upload to the channel.

Snapchat:

I use snapchat to keep up with my friends everyday. I'm always sending pictures and videos to my friends to keep them updated on what's up.

Instagram:

I use Instagram to keep up with friends and to also post pictures of projects and trips.

Facebook:

I mostly use Facebook in order to keep up with my family who don't typically use any other social media app.

LinkedIn:

I only use LinkedIn in order to keep companies up with my resume and work history. I hope to use it to help me get a job in my selected field.

What could a visitor see? 

    If a visitor were to come across my pages and sites, they would get to see a lot about me. They would see that I like to make videos and memes, I love to make and play music and that I love to play video games with my friends. I wouldn't say that I have given out any serious private information on any of these sites and I don't believe anything that I post is too private. The only site I've posted an email is on LinkedIn, since employers can contact me via email.

The Atlantic Article

    After reading the Atlantic Article: "Is Facebook Making Us Lonely?", I understand more about how social media can increase loneliness in people. I agree that social media can increase depression in people, me being one of those people in the past, however this article gives me more perspective on what can cause people to be so lonely while on social media. 

    The article explains how social media causes the fear of "interfering with our relationships," and also "growing distant between friends." I personally have never thought of that theory in the past, I was always fearful that my friends would forget me and I would see them hanging out together without me. 

    All in all, this article showed me a deeper explanation of what social media can do to a persons mental health. How an app that should bring people closer together, is actually making us more lonely and more depressed the more we use it. A good way to help this is to take a break from social media, and just relax, this can help you reduce your depression and keep you happy. 

What I learned from EOTO #2

 Propaganda

    During the Propaganda Presentation, I learned a lot of different things, some old, some new, including the backstories of many different famous propaganda pictures. For example, I learned that some of the earliest forms of war propaganda came during World War 1 in the form of Uncle Sam. This came in July 6th, 1917. The image of Uncle Sam pointing was a way to compel action in men who saw it. 

    Another famous one, Rosie the Riveter was made so that women would be encouraged to help on the homeland in the war effort during World War 2. The purpose of the propaganda is to gain support for, not just the war effort, but also for many other things like political campaigns. 

    In all, this presentation helped me learn about how propaganda is able to motivate people into supporting something.

 

EOTO #2: The Overton Window

 What is the Overton Window?

    In the mid-1990's, Joseph P. Overton, the Senior Vice President of the Mackinac Center for Public Policy, came up with a theory that explained how different politicians and public figures picked which policies to support and back. The basic idea of this theory is that policies and ideas in the box (aka the Window), are more desirable to the public, and will get that politician more supporters. 

    The policies and ideas that fall outside the window are considered less desirable and/or too risky and it can cause politicians to lose followers. It can be thought of as a box and whisker plot in math terms, where the policies in the box are the main focus, while the ones on the outside are considered the outliers. Most of the time a good policy will be on the outside of the window and most politicians will stay away from it due to the risk of losing supporters. Yet they will support a potentially damaging policy since it falls in the Overton Window.

                                 

What's the Problem?

    The main issue about this theory is how easily the Window can be shifted. The window is mostly based on public opinion and which policies the public believe are the right ones to support. The issue with this is that public opinion can be shifted very easily based on articles and studies they read. However, some of those articles can be false and lies, however people will choose to believe it since everyone else is choosing to, which can cause policies that were originally in the window to fall out and be replaced. 

    So politicians can shift public opinion in order to support a certain policy and also gain supporters at the same time. This easy push of Public Agenda shows a huge issue in the Overton Window and how easily it can be manipulated to a politicians personal agenda. The Overton Window basically shows Public Opinion, instead of which policies would actually help further the country forward. And politicians will watch the Overton Window very closely in order help them gain supporters, which could lead to them winning elections and gaining more overall power. 

Conclusion

    In Conclusion, The Overton Window is the main thing that keeps politicians from choosing an unpopular idea or policy. This idea is the guideline that they will use in order to keep gaining followers and supporters for their campaigns and other ventures.  The Overton Window can also be easily be shifted by Public Opinion, which is also easily shifted by a change in Political Agenda. This shift in opinions can change which policies are in and out of the Overton Window.

    The Overton Window is always watched closely by public figures and politicians in order to keep them in the public's good side, since they basically control which policies are in, and which are out. This idea has made keeping up with policies easier for everyone, however it has made it easier to sway the public opinion and put policies forward and take policies out. 

REFRENCE:

https://www.mackinac.org/OvertonWindow